While the Years Passed By
by Gaius Verres
Summary: The Master of Death is a sinister figure, immortal and powerful he wanders the World's. Once though he lived the life of a man. A series of chapters/one shots from the point of view of people of Harry's generation as they grow old around him. Covering his "First Life" or the life of Harry's generation.
1. Chapter 1

**While the Years Passed By**

 ** _Prologue / Introduction_**

 _This is a series is chapters from the point of view of Harry's generation. Harry is immortal as Master of Death but they are not. This is told from many perspective because I wanted to show what many of the book's characters have been up to and because I've been a bit influenced by A Song of Ice and Fire._

 _You will notice that each chapter takes place at a funeral. Sound's depressing although that's not exactly what I'm going for. The purpose of the funereal setting is to emphasise the fact that Harry has already lived for a lifetime without having to write more in depth fics covering that period in detail. The chapters will vary in their focus, from the deceased to the narrator of the chapter, but can include other characters as the main character and most will have bits and pieces about Harry's life as well._

 _The goal is to convey two things, that at this stage in his life Harry is undergoing a traumatic experience, solidifying the idea that he will always outlive people although this is of course something he has had a great deal of time to consider and try to deal with. This is why I'm also trying to show that all these other characters have gone out and lived their lives fully. This also should help the reader understand Harry developing a somewhat fatalistic attitude with regards to others, to put it crudely: Harry knows everyone will die and excepts this but has come to believe that he can only except their passing and celebrate their lives when their go._

 **Chapter One: The Lord Ronald Weasley**

 **March, 2081**

The was slowly levitated into the grave by the pall-bearers while the Lord Weasley stood solemnly at the head of the grave. A few short weeks earlier he had celebrated his 101st birthday with his sister and now he buried her. She had been a few months shy of her own century and better preserved than him, her brown eyes still bright and her wand fast when she dealt with Fred's cantankerous pranking. Fingers brushed at his watering eyes and his hand went down to dry them on the thick black cloth of his formal robes. Only the Lord Weasley and three other attendees worse such robes, the formal wear of the leader of a Noble House to mark a death. Long and heavy they made of roughly spun black cloth and cowled, reminiscent of monk's garbs except for their edges. A band an inch thick ran around each edge, consisting of a dark – almost black – red thread depicting elaborately coiling and twisted foxes in a pattern that dated back to the first Weasley in the days of the Kingdom of Strathclyde.

Two of the others stood at the foot of the grave, Noble friends but not relations. Susan, in robes depicting a stylised whale-bone harpoon, faded to grey instead of it's normal ivory white, denoting the origin of the Bones family as a seafaring clan from the Shetland Islands, who had gained fame hunting the whales, krakens and great serpents of the deep. To her right stood Neville embroidered with the legendary oaken longbow and acorns of his Norman fore-father.

The last Lord stood to Ronald's left, unique in his three noble bands, the green stag of Potter, the dark ravens of Black and the silver symbol of House Peverell. Another thing that made this man unique was his youth. The Lord Weasley had aged poorly for a wizard of his heritage – his snowy hair and tightly cropped beard white while his father, thirty years his senior, still had vividly red - if somewhat thin - hair. The death of his wife had aged him prematurely, but that was, according to his dear departed 'Mione, an unavoidable fact of genetics. The power to wield magic was binary, you had it or you did not. A muggle witch was as powerful as any pure-blood but as she had explained. Ron smiled at the memory of an exasperated Hermione forcing him to sit down with his own pre-teen children – his protests met with a waspish "You will not be less educated than your ten-year old child Ron!" and flared nostrils, always a sign to shut-up and behave – while she conjured a set of paints.

There was something called Gee and Aih and it was like the paintbox and you were the picture. If the paints you had could paint Weasley red hair, you had Weasley hair. For some things you could only use certain colours. And a flick oh her wand spread a long skin coloured silhouette of a head and chest onto the paper. When it was roughly the size of Ron's own upper body the paint had run out. She turned to Hugo and Rose, "Now because we've run out of paints for skin colour we can't make the person any taller." A spatter of brown flecked across the paint like freckles. "Which is why your father is too tall to be real."

And to paint magic you needed a very precise shade of paint so it was rare, but it could be only with a large number of colours. Now if you had enough of those colours to get a close shade of the magic colour you couldn't use magic but you had it. Squibs and many muggles had some of the colours and so, like wizards they were long-lived, healed well and were a little more bludger-resistant than others. Now the magic colour could still be made with different sets of paints and if even if you had more than enough to use magic it still changed how magic effected the body, so many magical genes resulted in the ancient wizards like Merlin who had lived into their hundreds. Throughout history pure-bloods like the Blacks had noticed this because of the small size of their long-lived magical communities and developed their doctrines, but because there was a mathsy thing that he hadn't understood (he didn't have the time to be home-schooled with infants!) Ron had been lost during the brief explanation that followed. For his benefit Hermione had told him to think of momentum, which Ron understood. Every magic gene was like a push to a rolling object. What the blood-purists hadn't realised is that in such small communities there didn't tend to be much diversity in magical genes anyway, so you could collect all the available paints but there would be many more in other people, either randomly in muggles or into distant and isolated wizarding communities. This meant that the new addition of colours came from muggle-borns entering the community and so people like Harry and 2nd or third generation wizards would have the most.

Many years later she had taken back to Hugo's empty room and sat him down in the same spot. With a solemn tone she had twirled her grey hair around a finger and told him what she hadn't wanted to then. During her research for the Ministry campaign to counter blood purist ideology she had used her and Ron's families to find the genetic keys to magic and had been able to predict their lifespans to an extent. Her wrinkled and had brushed against taught muscle that would have been an achievement for a fifty year old muggle. Three years later in her early eighties she had been taken from him.

The thought of the argument that had followed brought his mind back to the present as he looked at Harry. For a decade they had feuded over his refusal to summon her with the Resurrection Stone. For a moment he wondered whether he would be using the stone tonight, but the unworthy hint of his old jealousy was swept aside. As a young man Ron had been a prat, although not – as many had thought – because he was jealous of Harry. Well, not really. To be a Weasley was to be poor which made you less important, it was to be from a House that had fallen from the nobility which made you unimportant and it was to have fallen from a leading position in Magical Britain, which of course, made you unimportant. His generation of Weasleys had changed all that, but perhaps only because it pushed them to excel. A Weasley has to do more to succeed and so they all had. A renowned curse-breaker, and dragon-keeper skilled enough to live to retirement, a powerful Ministry worker and skilled diplomat, two boys who had created a business empire and a witch who had been both a champion duellist and broom racer.

What Ron had discovered was that being a Weasley made you unimportant but being a sidekick made you invisible. He had kicked and screamed (metaphorically, mostly) before coming to terms with this a few years out of Hogwarts and finding his own role. Ron Weasley was Harry Potter's best friend and war-time companion but he was also a former Chudley Cannon's player (a mediocre one he'd admit) and manager (where he had turned the Cannons into Europe's top club). With his new wealth he was both generous and charitable, but it had still come as something of a surprise when Draco Malfoy had lead the Wizengamot to restore the title of the House of Weasley with Ron as it's Lord. Ron had later learned that Malfoy simply wouldn't stand for Scorpius to be involved with a grill from a fallen House and Scorpius had claimed that the only way that would change was if Rose became Noble, and so the smarmy git had done it. What Malfoy hadn't expected was what the combined force of Hermione in the Ministry and Ron in the Wizengamot could do. The resulting civil and political reforms earning them each a an order of Merlin. From the time that Ron had recognised his own achievements that jealousy had vanished, replaced by the pride and ambition that had driven him through his distinguished life.

Hermione's passing had taken a toll but still he rarely felt 'old'. Recently though he was seeing Harry less and less. Neither of them would admit it but they were growing apart. Glancing over at the bright eyes and black hair of a young man who looked to be in his thirties Ron knew why. To see Harry young and unchanged made him feel old, older still than looking at Neville or George, wizened like he was. On Harry's part Ron could see the pain in his eyes as he watched friends age and die. For others, at the very least there would be nothing, at the best they would be reunited with those they had lost. For Harry there would be innumerable years of life, uncountable people, all destined to leave him alone. So both of them grew apart rather than confront this.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Please keep in mind that I'm not a geneticist and that my explanation is told by an old Ron reciting lessons Hermione gave young children. I'm drawing a bit from medichloreans in Star Wars so all life has some 'magic' in it and on Tolkien's treatment of bloodlines like the elves and the Numenoreans etc.

With regards to the ages, if you have questions or are puzzled please refer to the Fractured World's Companion fic which includes a quick summary of how I'm treating the lifespans of Wizards.

Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary.

But definitely appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

**While the Years Passed By**

 **Chapter Two: The Lord-Scion Scorpius Malfoy**

 **September, 2124**

Pale grey eyes regarded the attendees coolly, surveying the odd mixture of friend and foe attending his father's funeral. The death of Lord Malfoy, former Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot had drawn high ranking politicians and wizards from all walks of life, a number of families had even delayed the return of their children to Hogwarts in order to allow them to this gathering of the powerful there was only one conspicuous absence – the Boy-Who-Lived, although he was rarely seen in these days.

After the Second War his Scorpius' father had set about rebuilding the House of Malfoy, which had been no easy task. The name and much of the family fortune had been ruined, their political power shrivelled away.

It had come as a surprise to some of his father's acquaintances when Draco Malfoy had thrived in the face of this adversity and exhibited the political guile his family were renowned for. Frozen out of first Shacklebolt's and then Granger's Ministries Father had turned to the Wizengamot. Since Rufus Scrimgeour had declared a state of emergency much of the Wizengamot's power was given to the Minister for a 7-year term. As the Heir to House Malfoy Father had been groomed from birth for Wizarding politics and steeped in the traditions of the Wizengamot.

Dating to the age of the Founder's it was bound by powerful oaths and magics, as was the Ministry. The nature of these magics made it almost possible to reform or circumvent except for in the state of emergency. Which could only be declared with the consent of the Wizengamot. This branch of Wizarding government was largely held through hereditary family seats, although a third were life-appointments rewarding great achievements. The inheritance of a seat was a complex magical affair, being passed down to the eldest offspring of a previous holder.

To prevent a Lord or Lady from accumulating multiple seats over time a complex succession system was in place. A seat would pass to the oldest heir, regardless of gender, but if they married it remained their title and could not pass to their spouse. The titles would be passed to separate offspring, and if there were too few offspring the titles would continue to pass down that line passively, with the holder acting as head of the House but the heir only occupying one seat in the Wizengamot while the others remained vacant.

Three wars in eighty years had left many seats vacant or with underage heirs. If the previous holder had taken precautions it was held by a regent but if none had been appointed those seats also remained vacant. Of the sixty-six seats, twenty-two were filled by appointees during that period. Of the forty-four hereditary seats only twenty-five were filled.

Through a small amount of blackmail Draco Malfoy had ensured three of those were empty when the Ministers emergency powers expired and all the actions of the last seven years had to undergo Wizengamot approval. With less than forty-four members there was no voting quorum and Wizarding Britain was stuck in a legal and political limbo unable to appoint new members or play its role in government until Draco was ready to come forward and claim his seat.

After two weeks of inertia Minister Granger had grudgingly called him into her offices and demanded he take up his seat. Having forced his rivals to hand him power the young Lord Malfoy had entered that hallowed hall as a swing vote and the threat of retiring and returning Britain to its previous state.

This precarious position had existed for three years, with his father keeping a tight grip on power while slowly and obstinately conceding enough to the Minister to distract from his efforts to rebuild his ancestral fortune. Unlike the muggle world the Wizarding economy was quite unregulated. All taxes were payed through a sales tax and the Ministry had no financial records on the affairs of private witches or wizards. Towards the end of the third year his father had slipped up.

The Minister's husband was one Ronald Weasley, a member of the clan that had been feuding for almost four centuries. What had started with a broken betrothal contract had resulted in the death of fourteen Malfoys, including two sitting Lords of the name, nine Weasley dead and the loss of the Weasley family's title and Wizengamot seat. Additionally Ronald Weasley, who was incidentally the Lord-Scion Malfoy's father in law, had been a bitter rival of his father during their Hogwarts's years.

In 2008 Ronald Weasley had bought and managed the Chudley Cannons to a second spot league finish and Father had been unable to forget the old rivalry. When Draco Malfoy bought the Falmouth Falcons in 2009 to compete with Ron, Minister Granger had started investigating his return to prosperity.

To her disappointment she found nothing sufficient to ruin Scorpius' father, but did find some dealings in muggle finance that might cost the support of some of his more conservative allies. The Minister had attempted to blackmail the Lord Malfoy but instead a compromise was struck. Draco Malfoy conceded to the appointment of new Wizengamot appointees and the swearing in of several Lords that he had been blocking, chiefly Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom and Andromeda Tonks (whose seat had wanted for his mother). Perhaps most aggravating to the young Malfoy was the return of House Weasley to the Wizengamot in place of the extinct Lestrange family.

After it was refused by his brothers, Ronald Weasley had taken the Lordship and established himself as leader of a reformist faction which Draco had opposed with his own conservative faction dedicated to preserving the old traditions in the face of what the Minister called 'modernisation', although Lord Malfoy scathingly referred to it as 'mugglisation'.

Together with Lord Longbottom as the leader of a moderate faction they controlled the Wizengamot and waged a bitter war of words across that hallowed chamber. Though for his father and father in law Scorpius new it was almost as much an extension of their quidditch rivalry as it was a conflict of ideologies.

For a century this trio, dubbed the Lions of the Wizengamot much to Lord Malfoy's irritation, had ruled that chamber, although along the way the bitter animosity of school children had faded and one day developed into a more friendly rivalry. Both Scorpius and his wife Rose could remember the day their fathers had finally moved past their old arguments.

In the early days of the 2010s Minister Granger had attempted to ban the use of bludgers at Hogwarts, calling the practice cruel, unusual and barbaric. Draco Malfoy had come home in a rage and immediately flooed Lord Longbottom for a guarantee of support in the Wizengamot vote the next day. To his surprise Longbottom had refused leading to an angry tirade at the dinner table about wimps with broken wrists and fears of flying.

Scorpius' mother, the Lady Astoria had taken offence at the language her husband was using in front her son and his plan to block the vote which in her words "squandered both the political capital and bribe money of House Malfoy over a children's game" leading to the most heated argument his parents had had in his youth, ending with his father's temporary eviction from Malfoy Manor.

According to Rose Lord Weasley had returned almost concurrently from a Cannons training session and been informed by his wife. Ever a blunt man, Scorpius' father in law had simply stated that he would be voting against his wife's measure the next day which in turn had led to his temporary relocation to the Leaky Cauldron's accommodations. As it happened when the Lord Weasley arrived and demanded a drink in the private lounge he had found it occupied by one Lord Draco Malfoy who was rage-drinking his way through a bottle of fine (although muggle) Scotch.

Both men had proceeded to get exceedingly drunk and have their first cordial conversation, if a drunken rant about wives and the sanctity of quidditch qualified as such. After spending the night in their rented lodgings the two Lords had entered the Wizengamot sporting massive hangovers and proceeded to vote together the on the bill.

Astoria had forgiven Draco since he had not used the resources she had feared but Minister Granger was understandably not appeased and feeling some sympathy the Lord Malfoy had graciously offered him temporary accommodations. During a stay that lasted several weeks their relationship had thawed into a friendly, if often heated, rivalry and in their later years a fast friendship.

Although Ron's whereabouts during that period had stayed secret from his wife for over a decade, and Hermione Granger had never warmed to the Lord Malfoy, although she had gotten along with Scorpius in time.

Scorpius was jolted out of his reverie as he heard his que, "Thus we give final tribute to a friend and leader, a Lion of the Wizengamot and credit to House Malfoy." He gave the Lord Weasley a brief nod of thanks as he took his father in laws spot on the podium and prepared to deliver his eulogy.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I enjoyed writing this one ad hope you enjoy reading it. With regards to the system of Wizarding government and canon, I only consider the seven original books as canon although I may still use other sources and fan's work, just not over canon unless I have a good reason and will explain that in my notes. I'll keep notes with regards to that slim here because it forms a large part of the plot for my related fic "Salaszar Slytherin and the First Wizengamot" although the companion/guide piece to the series will updated alongside that fic.

I hope you don't find anyone to out of character, although showing how characters changed and lead their adult lives is kind of the point here. Specifically I figured I'd explain Hermione and the bludgers. If you think about it from our perspective they are fairly dangerous and I figure Hermione would see that the same way. I'm sure we can all agree Ron would not support any changes to the game.

Please read & review!


	3. Chapter 3

**While the Years Passed By**

 **Chapter Three: Auror Neville Longbottom**

 **Late September, 2016**

 **Somewhere on the Pontic Steppe**

A motion from Terry Boot's hand sent Neville and his two remaining companions veering left, although his words were lost between the roar of the wind and noise of the horses. Not long afterwards he slowed down completely and pulled his wand to flatten and area of grass to reveal gleaming white chunks in the grass. Slowly Neville heaved himself out of the saddle and stretched before lifting his heavy furs to itch at the raw saddle-sores he was developing.

When they had first arrived in the Crimean Peninsula Neville had been both irritated to find out that their journey into the steppe would be on horseback and relief that the local winged horse, the Rüzgar Tayi, was flightless. The small steppe horses, unable to fly with a rider, still used their wings in a strange back and forth motion that allowed them to essentially glide slightly as they ran, taking weight of the horse and making it good for long distance travel, or to beat down long steppe grass and cross the great rivers that fed the sea to the south.

Any relief he'd felt at staying on the ground was lost when he realised that this new motion was chafing uncomfortably along the front of his thighs and cramping his legs. Only the third member of their party, Bill Weasley, seemed unaffected, although this was due to similar experience during a Cursebreaking expedition.

The site Terry had led them too was the largest loss of life that had occurred amongst his classmates since the Battle of Hogwarts. Almost two years earlier some of the last remaining Death Eater's testimonies had become public once the Auror Department, from the initial few remaining at the end of the war a number of others with more passive roles or older Death Eaters who had only fought in the First War were found. One of the pieces of information revealed had concluded that Antonin Dolohov and a cousin Bogdan had been responsible for tracking down Neville's parent for the Lestranges.

Although Bogdan Dolohov was not a marked Death Eater he had been involved in much of their activity and had also fought for Grindelwald decades earlier as one of a number of Wizards in the XV SS Corps, a group of Cossack who had fought for Hitler and, in Dolohov's case, as a liaison between Hitler and Grindelwald's forces. As an active Auror this was none of Neville's concern since he was forbidden from engaging in Blood Feuds, but for most Wizards these were considered as matters of the utmost important.

Last Autumn Anthony Goldstein had contacted Neville to let him know that Bogdan Dolohov and a third family member, Ivan, lived in the wild lands of the Pontic Steppes. Although only Bogdan had been involved in the Longbottom affair, both he and Ivan had fought in Grindelwald's war and were rumoured to be personally responsible for the murder and interment of much of the Goldstein family during the 1940s.

Neville had turned down Anthony's request for aid hoping to dissuade the Ravenclaw from pursuing the Feud, since the fall of the Tsar the Magic Folk amongst the Cossacks had been without any government and the steppes of Russia and the Ukraine had become anarchic and lawless drawing fugitives to join them with the promise of a life free from the law – if generally quite short and violent.

Rather than be dissuaded Anthony had attempted to continue the Feud with the assistance of Terry Boot, Michael Corner and Ernie MacMillan appealing to their long friendships and, in Terry's case, their shared faith and history. Terry had returned eight months later alone and unwilling to discuss the fate of his companions except to pass on his final requests and express the need to reclaim the remains of Ernie and Anthony. Anthony's let request was for any wand that had just cause to take up his blood feud against the Dolohov family.

After consulting with his grandmother Neville had retired from active service and sought out a second person who had cause for a feud but the Dolohov's had always been thorough and m=the few living people he could find were unwilling to face combat after the experiences of the last decades until he found Bill Weasley. A Prewitt on his mother's side, Bill's two maternal Uncles had been murdered by a group that included Antonin and Bogdan.

Sworn to the feud they had started by accompanying Terry back here, were a pile of splintered white bones, some marked and gnawed clean by wolves. These were the last remains of Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner and Ernie Macmillan and the Lines of Longbottom and Prewitt were there to claim the remains and the feud.

Neville knelt to start recovering the bones before stopping and coughing awkwardly to attract Terry's attention.

"Em . . . how would he want to be, eh . . . disposed of Terry"

The young man hesitated.

"I'm not really sure, normally we try to bury the body quite soon but since this is all we have left." He paused.

"I'm actually non-practicing" he admitted uneasily, "I suppose we try and bring them all back too their families – although Anthony was the last of the British Goldsteins. They are related to the Scamander's somehow and there might be a branch in the American Federation."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Apologies for the delay, work is a bit hectic during the summer holidays caus we're understaffed. And this is quite a short chapter, although on the plus side I've already planned out two short fics that serve as a prequel and sequel to this chapter, focusing on Anthony's failed mission and Neville, Bill and Terry's hunt for the Dolohovs.**

Secondly there are a number of actual points I'd like to mention here, the first and most obvious being that I've made Terry Boot a non-practising Jew (to the best of my knowledge we know of no religious affiliation for him.

Also before anyone has a go at my geography I would point out that I only consider the original HP books canon and will repeatedly be using countries or border's with no 'muggle' or modern equivalent. My reasoning for this focuses on a few things. The longer lifespan of wizard (the times outlined in the guide to this fic explains that, which means that countries such a the US in say 1830 would still largely consist of magical people who may well predate it. Similarly if wizards regularly hit say 120, they would predate the Russian revolution. Also since the plot of my Salazar Slytherin fic focuses on how wizarding government should function I have developed my own system for how the link between mundane and magical government should work, which essentially consist of magical oaths or vows that ensure peace between the magical community and the muggle head of state. This would mean that a non-legitimate succession (from the perspective of the old regime) would create a political break between the magical and muggle governments.

For example (and I'm talking purely definition-wise here, not arguing whether or not there is a moral justification) at the time of the American Revolution any American fighting for the revolution is by definition a traitor (they're fighting against their legal sovereign in open rebellion). Now muggles have the ability to do that when their situation becomes unjustifiable and intolerable (French, US & Russian Revolutions) but wizards would be bound by oath to remain loyal to the Tsar or English and French Monarchs respectively.

Hence it seems relatively unlikely that states that have gone through abrupt changes in government will no longer correspond to the wizarding nations.


End file.
